The Invention of the Passive Fairy Tale Heroine
European fairy tales featured bold, independent female characters—until the Reformation forced shifts in cultural attitudes towards women.
Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics
Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.
The Mystery behind Charlotte Salomon’s Groundbreaking Art
Before she was killed by Nazis, Charlotte Salomon created a unique, genre-bending artwork that may have also been a confession to a murder.
An Ancient Egyptian Funerary Vessel Heads to Outer Space
Tavares Strachan's “Enoch” was launched into space on December 3rd, 2018. It's the latest in a long line of artworks inspired by Egyptian canopic jars.
W. B. Yeats’ Live-in “Spirit Medium”
In the Victorian era, a different kind of ghostwriting became popular—largely because it allowed men to take all the credit.
What The War of the Worlds Had to Do with Tasmania
H.G. Wells's famous science fiction novel imagines what would happen if Martians did to Great Britain what Europeans did to Tasmania.
Ai Weiwei’s Readymade: Politics
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been making political waves for decades, but his current shows are especially relevant to the United States.
William Goldman and the Mystery of Screenwriting
Authorship of Hollywood screenplays is often a complicated matter. But William Goldman was truly a writer in Hollywood.
Victor Hugo: Surrealist Artist
Victor Hugo created visual art that was intuitive, experimental, and inspired by Spiritualism. In other words, nothing like his novel Les Misérables.
The Colonialist Gaze of Matisse’s Odalisques
Henri Matisse's odalisques, or reclining nude females, were inspired by trips to exotic French colonies. But what was the story outside the frame?